Drawer catch



Jan. 17, r1956 B. THOMPSON DRAWER CATCH Filed March 3l, 1954 wl I /f lff J0 il' nu I ggg Lgggd6 Erg/an Thompson ATTORNEYS e' We@ United StatesPatent 'i O DRAWER CATCH Bryan Thompson, Houston, Tex. Application March31, 1954, Serial No. 419,990 2 Claims. (Cl. S12- 348) This inventionrelates to furniture, cabinets, and other devices in which drawers arepositioned, andl in particular a stop for limiting outward movement of adrawer to prevent the `drawer being pulled all of the way out anddepositing contents thereof on the floor.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a catch adapted to beinstalled on a drawer to limit outward movement of the drawer in whichthe latch is adapted to be be manually adjusted to permit the drawer tobe taken out when desired.

In numerous instances and particularly in kitchen cabinets drawers areoften drawn outward accidently and once the drawer leaves the supportingstructure the drawer with the contents thereof drops to the floor.Various types of slides, latches, and other holding devices have beenprovided in drawers and particularly drawers of desks, however, withconventional retaining latches it is diticult, if not impossible, towithdraw the drawer when it is desired to remove the drawer of the desk.With this thought in mind this invention contemplates a catch adapted tobe installed in the side of a drawer and an adjusting screw for moving aportion of the latch outwardly to extend into a groove in the supportingstructure at the side of the drawer, or the latch is adapted to bewithdrawn to permit the drawer to be` withdrawn.

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a catch adaptedto be installed in the side of a drawer to limit outward movement of thedrawer in which the position of the latch is readily adjustable.

Another object of the invention is to provide a catch for temporarilypreventing a drawer being withdrawn from structure in which it ismounted in which the device is adapted to be installed in devices now inuse.

A further object of the invention is to provide a stop for limitingoutward movement of a drawer in which the stop is of a simple andeconomical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the inventionembodies a spring arm attached to a mounting plate and having a ange onthe extended end and a thumb screw threaded through the mounting plateand positioned to engage the arm to adjust the position of the flange,said parts adapted to be installed in a recess in a side of a drawer andthe extended end of the spring arm being adapted to extend into a groovein supporting structure with the ange on the end of the arm positionedto engage an obstruction at the end of the groove to prevent the drawerbeing withdrawn from the structure.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing description taken in connection with the drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view showing a drawer of a cabinet or the likeand in which the latch of this invention is positioned in a recess inone side of the drawer.

Figure 2 is a sectional plan taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l with the partsshown on an enlarged scale illustrating the relative positions of theparts and showing the latch in the outwardly extended position, in fulllines and in the released position in broken lines.

j 2,731,321 Patented Jan. 17, 1956 ICC Figure 3 is a sectional plansimilar to that shown in Fig. 2 `showing the drawer drawn outwardly anduntil the latch engages a stop in the supporting structure of thedrawer.

Figure 4 is a detail showing a cross section taken on line 44 of Fig. 3with the parts shown on a still further enlarged scale and showing thepositions of the parts with the latch withdrawn or in the releasedposition.

Figure 5 is a detail showing an elevational view of the latch with partsof a drawer on which the latch is positioned broken away.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference characters denotecorresponding parts the improved drawer catch of this invention includesa spring arm 10 secured by a rivet 11 to a mounting plate 12 and a thumbscrew 13 having a head 14 and provided with a spring 15 and a washer 16.

The spring arm 10 is bent at the point 17 to provide a ange 18 and theange portion is bent upon itself at `the point 19 to provide a ange ofdouble thickness with the inner portion 20 havingan extended end that issecured in' position with a band 21 which is crimped on the arm 10, asshown.

With the parts designed and assembled as shown and described the deviceis installed in an elongated slot 22 in a side 23 of a drawer 24 withthe flange portion 18 positioned in an opening 25 at the end of the slotand with the mounting plate 12 secured in position with a nail or otherfastener as indicated by the numeral 26.

The thumb screw 13 extends through an opening 27 in the side 23 of thedrawer and the end of the screw is threaded in an opening 28 in themounting bar or plate l2.

The head 14 of the screw 13 may be formed with a disc having aperipheral ange and with the interior lled with a suitable material, asindicated by the numeral 29, however, it will be understood that thehead may be formed in any suitable manner.

The side wall 23 of the drawer is positioned to slide against or coactwith a wall 30 of a supporting structure and the wall 30 is providedwith a groove 31 in which the projecting end or flange portion 181 ofthe latch extends whereby therdrawer is free to travel inwardly andoutwardly until the flange 18 engages a stop 32 at the outer end of thegroove. As shown in Fig. 3 the stop is provided with a web having atongue 3.3 and the tongue is secured in a groove 34 by an adhesive orother suitable means.

It is preferred to form the stop so that the peripheral edge of thefront panel of the drawer 24 extends over the end of the groove 31 andstop when the drawer is in the closed position.

By turning the adjusting screw 13 the ilange of the arm 10 is adapted tobe extended outwardly to prevent the drawer being drawn from thestructure or by turning the screw in a counter-clockwise direction theange end of the arm 10 may be permitted to spring into the recess andopening 25 to permit the drawer to be withdrawn from the structure whendesired.

It will be understood that modifications, within the scope of theappended claims, may be made in the design and arrangement of the partswithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a supporting structure provided with a drawer openingtherein, a drawer slidably mounted in said opening, there being anelongated slot in each side of said drawer, said slots extendingforwardly from the rear of the drawer and terminating at a pointadjacent to the rear of the drawer, a mounting plate seated in said slotand secured to said drawer, there being an opening in the side of saiddrawer communicating with the front of said slot, a spring arm havingthe same width as said plate but being of greater length than saidplate, securing elements connecting the rear end of said arm to saidplate, the front end of said arrn being bent upon itself to provide arst ange arranged at right angles with respect to the major portion ofsaid spring arm, a second flange extending from said first ange andarranged in superposed relation with respect thereto, said anges beingmounted for movement into and out of the opening in the side of thedrawer, a band crimped on said arm and engaging a projecting `portion ofsaid second flange, there being registering apertures in the side ofsaid drawer and in said plate, a thumb screw extending through saidregistering apertures and engaging said arm, a head on the inner end ofsaid thumb screw, a washer circumposed on said thumb screw, a coilspring interposed between said head and washer andk circumposed on Asaidthumb screw, there vbeing a groove in said supporting structure, an L-shaped stop including a tongue secured in said groove, and said tongueadapted to be engaged by said first flange.

2. In combination, a supporting structure provided with a drawer openingtherein, a drawer slidably mounted in said opening, there being anelongated slot in each side of said drawer, a mounting plate seated insaid slot and secured to said drawer, there being an opening in saiddrawer communicating with the front of said slot, a spring arm havingthe same width as said plate but being of greater length than saidplate, securing elements connecting said arm to said plate, the frontend of said arm being bent upon itself to provide a first ange, a secondange extending from said rst ange and arranged in superposed relationwith respect thereto, said flange being mounted for movement into andout of the opening in the side of the drawer, a band crimped on said armand engaging a projecting portion of said second ange, there beingregistering apertures in the side of said drawer and in said plate, athumb screw extending through said registering apertures and engagingsaid arm, a head on the inner end of said thumb screw, a washercircumposed on said thumb screw, resilient means interposed between saidhead and washer and circumposed on said thumb screw, there being agroove in said supporting structure, a stop including a tongue securedin said groove, and said tongue adapted to be engaged by said first angeReferences Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

